An often question asked throughout the industry. This article breaks down the exact formula.
How Much Protein do I need?
To optimally build muscle and maintain muscle while dieting we
should aim for 2g-2.2g per kilo of bodyweight.
If you are very overweight aim for your target weight.
For example if you’re 120kg and aiming to get to 90kg eat 180g of protein per day.
How much protein should I have at each meal?
At BTX we have a lot of people ask about intermittent fasting. This is one of the worst ways to build muscle and hold onto muscle while dieting.
To turn on protein synthesis via mTOR pathway “ The mechanistic target of rapamycin” you need to hit a threshold of 20g – 30g of protein from a complete protein source. i.e. contains all the essential amino acids in adequate quantities.
Protein synthesis is either on or off. By having more protein than this you are not turning on protein synthesis more.
When protein synthesis is turned on. You are in an anabolic state which
means you are building and repairing muscle.
This lasts for around 3 hours before you go into a catabolic state “breaking down muscle tissue”
Therefore having all your protein in one or two meals like you do when
intermittent fasting will mean you have a large portion of your day in a
catabolic state. “Breaking down muscle tissue. “
When you turn on protein synthesis by eating your protein meal. You need protein synthesis to drop to baseline “muscle breakdown=muscle building before you can stimulate it again. This takes around 3 hours.
This is why the best way to eat your protein is to split it evenly throughout the day 3-4 hours apart. which equates to 4-6 meals of at least 20-30g of high quality protein. i.e. meat, eggs, whey protein and some vegan sources.
I’ll be doing an article on vegan sources at a later date.
Conclusion
- Eat 2g-2.2g of protein per kilo of bodyweight or goal weight
- Each meal should contain at least 20-30g from a complete protein
source. - Split these between 4-6 meals spread 3-4 hours apart.
- Make sure them come from high quality sources. i.e. meat, whey
protein or eggs
References
Dekker, I., van Rijssen, N., Verreijen, A., Weijs, P., de Boer, W., Terpstra, D. and Kruizenga, H.,
- Calculation of protein requirements; a comparison of calculations based on bodyweight
and fat free mass. Clinical Nutrition ESPEN, 48, pp.378-385. . . .
